1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates generally to the field of audio and audio/video equipment including compact disc (CD) players. More particularly, this invention relates to a CD changer which can access a database which is user searchable and updated upon recognition of an unknown CD. This invention is particularly useful for multiple CD changers which serve to store substantial numbers of compact discs. In addition, this invention provides a mechanism for computer control of the operation of the CD changer.
2. Background of the Invention
Several large capacity compact disc players are currently available commercially. For example, Sony Corporation, Tokyo Japan produces several such players such as the model CDP-CX100 and the CDP-CX153, available through Sony Electronics Inc., 1 Sony Drive, Park Ridge, N.J. 07676. Each of these players includes an internal rotary table with 100 slots which can store up to 100 compact discs. Players with even higher storage capacity will no doubt appear in the future. Compact disc players of this nature are commonly used to not only play compact discs, but also as a convenient mechanism for storing such discs in a very neat and compact arrangement.
In earlier compact disc players which only hold one or a few discs, the compact discs are commonly stored in their protective jewel case. Such jewel cases generally include an insert provides a written directory for each disc which generally lists in order the selections available on the disc and often includes play times and other information regarding each selection (e.g. artist, title, author, etc.). Such information facilitates the listener""s selection of the desired track or disc.
Unfortunately, this information may not be as readily available to the user of a CD player which is used as a storage device such as the above-mentioned high capacity CD players. Since users commonly use such players to store the compact discs, they also frequently store the jewel case and related informational inserts in a less convenient location. Moreover, the user must know not only the disc which he desires to play, but the location of the disc in the rotary table and perhaps a track number in order to readily access a particular chosen selection. In addition, it is difficult for the user to have a clear overview of the musical selections available and to control the play of such selections.
This problem has been partially addressed in the above Sony disc players by providing the user with the ability to program the disc player to store identifying information for each disc in the player""s memory and to categorize discs into a number of groups of the user""s selection (e.g. jazz, classical, Rock, etc.). These multiple CD changers utilize a portion of the table of contents (TOC) data for uniquely identifying each compact disc stored therein. In particular, the total music play time and the number of movements (typically songs) as indicated in the TOC is used in some changers to uniquely identify the discs. Compact disc changers also include a feature known as xe2x80x9cCustom Filexe2x80x9d which is described in Japanese patent application publication number 03-76082 which is incorporated herein by reference. While this technique is helpful in locating a desired selection, the user still has only limited access to the available information relating to the disc. For example, there is no information available on the specified tracks on the disc, artist, etc. unless this information is used to identify the entire disc. Moreover, all such information must currently be entered by the user using a remote control or jog dial to cycle through available characters. The process of entering such data is somewhat inconvenient (especially for large numbers of discs) and thus often omitted by the user. Furthermore, the user of such players are currently restricted to controlling the discs using stored parameters (e.g. level and sound field selections) on a disc by disc basis without regard for the content of individual tracks on the disc.
While variations of compact disc format might permit various information about the disc to be included on the disc itself in machine readable form, there exists a large body of work which has no such identification information. Thus, there is a need to provide the user with access to an equivalent body of information to use, particularly in connection with high capacity multiple disc players.
The present invention addresses these problems by providing a database of the information for access by the user to provide searchable access to the information which and the ability to download such information. This minimizes and in most cases eliminates the need for data input by the user.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a compact disc player with access to an external database which permits easy selection of discs stored in a multiple disc player.
It is a feature that the present invention provides the ability to search a database for desired music selections with minimal or no user entry of the database data.
It is a further feature that the present invention identifies a CD by the table of contents area of the disc (or other unique identifying information) which is used as a xe2x80x9cfingerprintxe2x80x9d for the disc.
It is a further feature that certain embodiments of the present invention can facilitate control over playback parameters of a compact disc on a track-by-track basis.
It is an advantage that the present invention can provide a large body of searchable information for the user to access without entry of the data.
It is a further advantage of the present invention that compact discs or other storage media can be easily stored within a multiple disc player while producing an enhanced ability to locate a music selection of choice.
It is another advantage of embodiments of the present invention to provide for user control of the play selections of the CD player via the computer""s user interface.
Broadly speaking, the present invention provides a modem link to a remote database which a user can utilize in order to provide information updates to a memory forming a part of a CD player. The system uses a xe2x80x9cfingerprintxe2x80x9d of a CD in order to search the remote database for information such as title, track names, artist, etc. Once the CD is identified, the information associated with the CD can be loaded into a local database so that the user can search for desired music, artists, etc. In addition, the information is loaded into the memory of a CD player so that discs stored in the CD player can be readily identified. This is especially useful for large capacity multiple CD players which are also used to store CDs. The user can further use the computer as a simplified control interface to search for selections, build play lists as well as enhance control of the playback operation.
The present invention contemplates many alternatives and variations. For example, in one aspect of the present invention, a system for playback of music compact discs includes a disc changer for receiving a compact disc and reading data from the disc to convert to signals representing music. An identifying portion of the disc is read in order to uniquely identify the disc. The identifying portion of the disc with a memory to determine if data relating to the compact disc is stored in the memory. A modem is provided along with a searching mechanism for accessing a remote database via the modem, wherein in the event the comparison does not detect the identifying information in the memory, the remote database is accessed via the modem to locate identifying information relating to the disc, the disc being identified in the database by the identifying portion. The information is then downloaded from the remote database to the memory.
In another aspect of the invention, a system for playback of music compact discs includes a disc changer for receiving a compact disc and reading data from the disc to convert to signals representing music. A portion of the changer reads an identifying portion of the disc which can be used to uniquely identify the disc. The identifying portion of the disc is compared with the memory to determine if data relating to the compact disc is stored in the memory. A first searching mechanism is provided for accessing a local database, wherein in the event the comparison does not detect the identifying portion in the memory, the first searching mechanism accesses the local database to locate the identifying portion relating to the disc, the disc being identified in the local database by the identifying portion. A second searching mechanism is provided for accessing a remote database via a modem, wherein in the event the comparison does not detect the identifying information in the memory and the first searching mechanism does not locate the identifying portion in the local database, the second searching mechanism accesses the remote database via the modem to locate identifying information relating to the disc, the disc being identified in the database by the identifying portion. The information is downloaded from either of the local database or the remote database to the memory.
In another aspect of the invention, a multiple disc compact disc player includes a multiple disc CD changer mechanism for playing and storing a plurality of compact discs. A memory stores information associated with the plurality of compact discs. A controller controls operations of the multiple disc compact disc player. A modem is coupled to the controller for accessing a remote database via a telephone line connection. The controller includes capability for issuing a first query to the memory to determine if the memory includes information associated with a selected disc in the CD changer mechanism, and for issuing a second query to a remote database via the modem in order to find information associated with the selected, if the first query fails to locate a information in the memory associated with the selected compact disc.
In another aspect of the invention, a system for playback of recorded media includes a media changer for receiving a recorded medium and reading data from the medium. An identifying portion of the medium is read and used to uniquely identify the medium. The identifying portion of the medium is compared with with a memory to determine if data relating to the medium is stored in the memory. A remote database is accessed and searched via a modem, wherein in the event the comparison does not detect the identifying information in the memory, the remote database is searched via the modem to locate identifying information relating to the medium, the medium being identified in the database by the identifying portion. The information relating to the medium is downloaded from the remote database to the memory.
A method of updating a memory in an audio compact disc changer according to an aspect of the invention includes the steps of: reading an identifying portion of a compact disc which uniquely identifies the compact disc; comparing the identifying portion with identifying portions stored in a memory; querying a database residing outside the compact disc changer for the identifying portion of the disc if the identifying portion is not found in the memory; and downloading data from the database to the memory corresponding to the identifying portion.
A method of updating a memory in recorded media player, according to an aspect of the invention includes the steps of: reading an identifying portion of a recorded medium which uniquely identifies the medium; comparing the identifying portion with identifying portions stored in a memory; querying a database residing outside the recorded media player for the identifying portion of the medium if the identifying portion is not found in the memory; and downloading data from the database to the memory corresponding to the identifying portion.
The present invention further contemplates a method for controlling the operation of a compact disc player, which in one aspect includes the steps of: storing data relating to a compact disc in a database, the database including information relating to each track of the compact disc; storing a playback attribute in the database on a track-by-track basis; and instructing the compact disc changer to play a selected track using the playback attribute.
Furthermore, the present invention contemplates a method of building a play list for a multiple disc compact disc changer, which in one embodiment includes the steps of: in a computer, storing information in a database about a plurality of compact discs residing in the multiple disc compact disc changer, the database including playback attributes for tracks of the compact discs; displaying a table of tracks of the plurality of compact discs; selecting a sequential set of tracks from the plurality of compact discs to define a play list; and sending a sequence of commands from the computer to the multiple compact disc changer to sequentially play the selected tracks from the play list.
The above objects, advantages and features of the invention, as well as others, will become apparent to those skilled in the art upon consideration of the following description of the invention.
The features of the invention believed to be novel are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The invention itself however, both as to organization and method of operation, together with further objects and advantages thereof, may be best understood by reference to the following description taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawing.